Booyah Inc.

In case you've been busy spending the holidays with friends and family, or just cross-country skiing to the North Pole, here's our recap of last week's epic, five-part series on the 50 best iOS games of 2011. How many do you own? #50: Temple Run In 2011, independent developers Imangi Studios had their biggest hit yet: The endless running game Temple Run. A cross between Canabalt and Raiders of the Lost Ark, in Temple Run you have to make split-second decisions and quick button presses to try to survive. The combinations of simple swipes and tilt controls, plus Temple Run's freemium pricing and stylish 3D graphics, made it one of the year's best high-score survival games. Our Bottom Line: Now is your chance to be Indiana Jones. #49: Tapper World Tour After nearly 30 years, the Tapper license awoke from a drunken stupor to revel in the App Store. Tapper World Tour is a remake of the 1983 arcade original, where you slide drinks across a bar to slate patrons' thirst. The new version adds incredible character designs and environments, plus extra minigames and gameplay twists, like specialty cocktails, as a chaser. Our Bottom Line: With a fresh coat of paint and new touch controls, Tapper is ready for another round in World Tour. #48: Crimson: Steam Pirates Playing Crimson: Steam Pirates is like cracking open a classic adventure novel and getting lost in a tale of swashbuckling on the high seas. While the story is pure pulp, the gameplay is more like chess. You plan out how your fleet of ships is going to get to your objective, and watch as it plays out. Lots of love was put into this game, which should come as no surprise, because it's made by Bungie, the company responsible for Halo. Our Bottom Line: Crimson: Steam Pirates is like a good book and a game of chess rolled into one Must Have download. #47: The Adventures of Tintin Peter Jackson and Steven Spielberg's animated tribute to the journalist/detective Tintin is still in theaters, but Gameloft's movie version offers hours of entertainment, too. Like they did with Avatar a few years ago, Gameloft's companion game for Tintin extends the movie's story, with tons of interactive elements like rapidly changing minigames and hunts for hidden puzzle pieces and coins. If you loved the movie, buy this game. Our Bottom Line: Tintin provides a mesmerizing journey Read More

...Drivin' actually came out at the end of 2010, but it received a major update in early 2011 that made it the Must Have game it is today. The gameplay is kind of like Mario Kart meets shuffleboard. Each match takes place over asynchronous online multiplayer, and you race other players by flicking a disc around various floating, curvy tracks. You can also collect power-ups that grant you special... Read More

You probably remember Booyah's MyTown, which eventually claimed more users than even Foursquare for a time. Booyah's management has switched up a bit since then, but the company is still plugging away at the iOS market, most recently releasing a sequel to MyTown called (not surprisingly) My Town 2. This version runs is more of a traditional social game, similar to Farmville, Cityville or any number of time-based management titles. Much like the original, the draw of My Town 2 is that you build cities with real places from your own neighborhood. Checking in to those places helps you break open rewards and items that you can't get anywhere else. Unfortunately, this means My Town 2 is sticky with the marketing. There's a whole lot of brand placement and not a lot of game play. I'd prefer more action and less marketing of the in-app purchases. But Booyah has been at this a while and they've reached an acceptable balance, especially considering that this is a freemium game and service. If you enjoyed the first MyTown, or if you just want to see what Booyah is all about, My Town 2 is well worth the download. It's free on the App Store in a universal version right now. Read More

This Halloween, iOS developers are clearly in a giving mood. They're marking down some excellent, full-sized games to free, which is the equivalent of handing out king-sized Snickers bars to trick-or-treaters. Dig in and start downloading, because these free games won't make you sick the next day if you play them too much. Legendary Wars In this mash-up of Lord of the Rings and Plants vs. Zombies, you have to stop invading hordes of skeletons, zombies, dragons, and other evil creatures. You do this by mining gems with dwarves, hiring knights and elves, and leveling them up after each level. Legendary Wars has a great art style, lots of levels, and a fun sense of humor, so be sure to download it for free today! Our Score: 4 out of 4 Our Bottom Line: Legendary Wars has enough content and variety to keep you playing for a long time to come. Battle Bears: Zombies We're big fans of the Huggables, the pink teddy bears who spout rainbow blood. And now you can be a fan, too, because the entire Battle Bears series is free today: Battle Bears -1, Battle Bears Blast, and Battle Bears: Zombies. We still think the original Battle Bears: Zombies is the best of the series, with its massive bosses, hilarious cutscenes, and obscene weapons. Download the whole set for free today! Our Score: 4 out of 4 Our Bottom Line: This twisted shoot-em up is more fun than a barrel of killer teddy bears. Early Bird Even if you're overloaded with bird-themed games, you should make room for at least one more. Booyah's Early Bird is a fun but challenging flying game where you have to swipe to keep your adorable bird aloft. The charming graphics and tough, three-star system for each level are just two things we adore about this game. Pick it up for free while you can. Our Score: 4 out of 4 Our Bottom Line: If you don't play this game, Birdie will cry, and that automatically makes you a bad person. Dawn of the Dead Dawn of the Dead is a great movie, but the iOS game wasn't quite as great. Still, for free, it's a perfect download for Halloween. The game is a top-down, twin-stick shooter where you have to protect a group of survivors stuck in a shopping mall. Zombies will pour in, and sometimes your best defense is a Read More

Looking for a new app this weekend?  Here are ten great new apps for the iPhone and iPad that you may want to check out! The popular Mac weather app hits the iPhone, complete with its easy-to-understand reports and appropriately dressed ‘Peeps’ for that at-a-glance update.  The app is free but uses iAds, however these can be disabled with an in-app purchase.  Free. A tool for sharing collections of pictures with friends, in real-time or as part of a private album.  The app has a feed for the latest images, a ‘Like’ button and social network integration.  Free. A colorful arcade game that takes the concept of games like Tiny Wings and amps up the gameplay with new challenges.  It’s universal for the iPhone and iPad, plus it has Game Center support.  $0.99/£0.69. A new online social game set in a school for wizards and witches, where you can build new facilities, make magic items and battle evil.  As you’d expect from this type of game, there’s plenty of in-app purchases.  Free. An interesting code-editor for the iPad, which uses the Lua programming language to help you put your game and project ideas into action.  $7.99/£5.49. The latest Call of Duty style FPS from Gameloft, with great graphics and audio throughout the 13 mission campaign.  Universal for the iPhone and iPad, plus a multiplayer mode for up to 12 players.  $6.99/£4.99. A city-building game with a location-based twist and a wealth of in-app purchases.  It’s universal for the iPhone and iPad, rewards location check-ins with bonuses and supports Game Center.  Free. A cloud storage system for all your photos and accessible from your computer, iPad and iPhone.  The app is free and universal, but only includes 30 days of free subscription, then you’ve got to splash out $5.99 per month or $59.99 per year.  Free. A jet ski racing game recommended for the iPhone 4, 4S and iPad 2, although it does work on other devices.  There are 12 courses and 6 skis to unlock, universal device support and Game Center too.  $4.99/£2.99. Watch the gaming TV network on your iPhone, complete with featured streams, live chat and a search feature.  Free. Read More

iPhone App FREE! Our Review By Rob Rich on October 27th, 2011 Rating: :: OWN IT MyTown 2 throws players back into the world of location-based real estate gaming, with little hope of escape. Developer: Price: Free Version: 1.0 App Reviewed on: iPhone 3GS Graphics / Sound Rating: Gameplay Rating: Playtime Rating: Replay Value Rating: Overall Rating: Since I spend a good deal of my time playing iOS games on the subway, I’m usually not one for titles that require constant internet connections. Although there are always exceptions, as one would expect. MyTown 2 is one such exception, due in no small part to its GPS integration. On the surface, MyTown 2 isn’t all that dissimilar from other freemium city-builders. There are homes to construct, businesses to set up, expansions to be made and money to be earned. Then spent on more homes, businesses and expansions. Where it differs is in the way it uses location detection to find real-world restaurants and stores, which can be added to a town and make things feel a little more… personal I suppose is the word I’m looking for. The same GPS functionality also allows players to “check-in” on local businesses, wherever they might be playing, to acquire bonus coins, experience and special bonuses. I have to admit, there’s something compulsively satisfying about grabbing local businesses and tossing them into my town. Similarly, the rewards are fairly constant. Houses bring in rent money every few minutes and there always seems to be a handful of assigned tasks players can complete for bonus rewards. There’s also en element of strategy involved when using businesses to earn cash: the more poured in to a shop, the more it can earn but the longer it takes. Conversely, as a store completes jobs it can be upgraded to earn even more money. It can be tough to decide whether or not to pursue the long-term goal of upgrading a building quickly by doing a ton of 3-minute jobs, or doing the several hour-long jobs that earn more cash but will ultimately delay progress. Aside from the general complaint of having all my time devoured by helicopter-parenting my little suburb, there’s just one thing that bugs me. I can’t play during my commute. I can totally understand why it requires an internet connection, and I don’t mean this as a serious dig, but it is an aspect that bothers Read More

iPhone App FREE! Our Review By Jason Wadsworth on October 24th, 2011 Rating: :: GETS THE FUN This flapping, flying physics game has players on the hunt for worms. Developer: Price: $0.99 Version Reviewed: 1.2.0 Device Reviewed On: iPhone 3GS Graphics / Sound Rating: Game Controls Rating: Gameplay Rating: Replay Value Rating: Overall Rating: Everyone has heard the saying: “The early bird gets the worm.” In this game, worms hiding underground in their holes is exactly what the early bird is after and players must guide the bird in its search. The best way to describe the gameplay would be to call Early Bird physics based puzzle platformer. While physics are an important part of the gameplay, they are not the game itself. Players use the physics to accomplish a goal, but the game has more to it than just watching the physics play out. The goal of Early Bird is to guide a cute little feathered worm hunter to a targeted landing spot where the little bird can pull a worm out of the ground. In order to move the little bird around each level, players swipe their fingers in the direction that they want the bird to flap. The bird will then flap in that direction and fly at that angle with more or less force depending on how long the player made their swipe on the screen. In each level, the player has a limited number of swipes they can make to guide the bird around. After those swipes have been used, if the bird hasn’t reached the target, the level is failed and must be repeated. Players complete a level when they successfully guide the bird to the target using only the available number of swipes. When the bird gets to the target it promptly pulls a worm from the ground. In these moments, the player will notice the game’s very well done animations. These animations help bring the characters to life instead of having them be simple two-dimensional pieces of the gameplay. The gameplay is enhanced by inventive level design and lots of interesting elements like fans, bounce pads, and collectable bugs. There are also different bonus point values awarded for accomplishing certain feats in each level, such as falling a great distance or landing in the exact center of the target zone. Early Bird is a well done game and it really shows off its Read More

Booyah is a company, originally founded by ex-Blizzard guys, that made some big steps in the relatively early days of the App Store with its social game MyTown. Since then, it looks like the development over there has taken a turn for the more traditional. Early Bird is the studio's latest product, and it's a physics-based puzzle platformer that's actually more similar to golf than anything else. The idea is that you control a bird by swiping across the screen (Did I mention that Booyah has gone a little more traditional? At least it's not angry), trying to make your way across a level to a target where a worm has taken up residence. Get there in fewer swipes than the game offers for each level, and you'll be the early bird, with a star rating to match. Run out of swipes, and you've got to start the level over. This one checks pretty much all the marks -- the graphics and sound are cute, the gameplay is solid (though the swiping mechanic is a little simple), and there are plenty of rewards to go after, from that aforementioned rating to bonuses for landing right on the target and so on. Both Game Center and OpenFeint integration are included, and there's apparently more content coming soon. The game is just US 99 cents for iPhone, or there's a $1.99 HD version out for iPad as well. Early Bird's not quite as risky or groundbreaking as Booyah's other titles, but it's a solid game for sure, and shows that when Booyah wants to focus strictly on hitting the right market with a well-made game, they can do just that. Read More

DJ Green Lantern ain't got nothing on DJ Funky White Boy... DJing as an activity is just something that I have never truly been able to wrap my brain around.  Just because you can successfully mix two or more pieces of music together simultaneously without it sounding like a garbled piece of garbage, that suddenly qualifies you as a musician?  Some would just call that glorified trial and error in front of an audience!  Trust me, I have heard my fair share of horrible DJs in my day, so when I heard there was going to be a new DJ game on the iOS, it would be safe to assume that I was fairly skeptical. Fortunately this skepticism was quickly washed away when I heard that the newly released DJ Rivals was from Booyah Inc., which are the brains behind last year’s hit, MyTown.  The game attempts to combine RPG mechanics set to a backdrop of mixing music.  Here are some of the standout features: For this release Booyah will be employing the micro-transaction system that they successfully used to perfection in MyTown.  Be sure not to let the free initial download fool you, because the game will no doubt try to bilk you for every dime.  However, this doesn’t mean that you have to give into this temptation, as long as you are willing to be patient and let the game develop organically. As a person who has always been an instant gratification kind of gamer, I can totally understand why this method of sale has been so successful.  Ironically, for the exact same reason I am terrified of games like this, simply because of my lack of any form of will power. If you are willing to proceed despite the risks and already know how to work the cross-fade to perfection, this may be just the game for you.  Give it a look and let us know what you think in the comments. FREE! iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad Released: 2011-03-10 :: Category: Games Read More

Earlier this week, social game company Booyah (whom we've spoken with before) released its latest game for iOS, called Nightclub City: DJ Rivals. Booyah first found huge success with an iOS social game called MyTown, and then went over to Facebook to create Nightclub City, a social app about sharing music among friends. Now the company is back on iOS with DJ Rivals, and early indications are that it's going to be popular: it's already garnered over 10,000 downloads in just over a day. Last week at GDC 2011, I spoke with Booyah's Brian Cho about the game and the plan behind it, and he told me that Booyah is "taking the best parts of MyTown and the learning that we had on Nightclub City," and combining those into both a persistent social game, as well as an arcade-style music game to play inside of it. He showed me the app as well -- after creating an avatar in the style of Nightclub City, you then claim locations around you (or around your friends, even if you're not in the same place), and then your DJ can play music battles (akin to Guitar Hero or DJ Hero on consoles) to take over those locations. That's a little more "gamey" than MyTown was -- MyTown consisted mostly of check-ins, like Foursquare, combined with virtual item sales for various boosts and stat upgrades. DJ Rivals has those, too -- players can buy boosts for their characters with in-app purchases. And some of those items are branded with company names or logos, which is how Booyah has made some extra money with these apps. Some of that work has been successful -- Booyah will often offer players a bonus if they can scan a certain product, like a bottle of shampoo or a certain cereal. The client then pays for each one of those scans, said Cho. I asked him if that really encouraged engagement with the products, since it seems to me that most people would just go to a store, scan the item in, and then never think about it again. But he told me that rather than pushing engagement, which is something Booyah did early on, they now suggest that these are just "impression-based advertisements." It's about exposure, not creating a serious relationship. Even so, some of the numbers are crazy -- Booyah offered one of their scanning deals to a Read More